GOVERNMENT OF THE DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA

Executive Office of the Mayor

Office of the Deputy Mayor for Planning and Economic Development

January 12, 2018

VIA ELECTRONIC MAIL

Mr. Martin Austermuhle

RE: FOIA Appeal 2018-57

Dear Mr. Austermuhle,

The Office of the Deputy Mayor for Planning and Economic Development (“DMPED”) is in receipt of the decision
by the Mayor’s Office of Legal Counsel (“MOLC”) dated January 4, 2018, in response to FOIA Appeal 2018-57.
Included with this letter is a redacted version of the incentives package. In follow up to the MOLC’s decision,
DMPED reviewed the documents withheld from your requested FOIA and finds sufficient basis to continue to
withhold portions of the incentive package based on the exemptions originally claimed.

In its decision, the MOLC acknowledged that portions of the requested documents fall within the claimed
exemptions and additional information may be protected from disclosure. The MOLC recognized that while
potential incentives appear to be exclusively offered by the District, the estimated values, if provided by private
entities, and concepts developed by private entities, could be protected from disclosure. The District utilized
information from its private partners to inform those estimated values and incorporated those calculations in its
initial offer to Amazon.

As DMPED articulated in the response to your appeal to the MOLC, the information provided by our private
partners is so inextricably intertwined with the information compiled by the District that they are non-
segregable. The incentives calculated using information from our private partners, and incentives
appearing to only come from the District, are codependent. Amazon is evaluating localities based on
packages offered and the District cannot reasonably segregate specific incentives offered without disclosing
the District and its partners’ strategy, placement, and competitive narrative.

The MOLC also qualified a portion of its decision on whether the District’s private partners face actual
competition in their respective fields and would suffer competitive harm with the release of information.
Both the District’s private partners as well as the District itself would suffer competitive harm if this
information is disclosed. Further, the disclosures could set the floor for the District’s private partners for
future partnerships when seeking to attract other business to the city and partners may lose their
competitive advantage if others in their industry had knowledge of their first Amazon HQ2 offer.
The District remains committed to open government and transparency. Throughout the process, the
District has been the most transparent in the region—making public the four potential sites, providing a
BRIAN T. KENNER
DEPUTY MAYOR

1350 Pennsylvania Avenue, N.W., Suite 317 • Washington, D.C. 20004 • T (202) 727-6365 • F (202) 727-6703 • dmped.dc.gov
public version of the bid concurrently with submitting to Amazon, and sharing the details of the campaign
by creating a specific public website (obviouslydc.com) for public engagement.

At the same time, Amazon’s search for HQ2 is the most highly competitive business endeavor the District
and its private partners have ever participated in—placing the proposal up against 238 other jurisdictions,
each of which seeks to attract a second headquarters for one of the largest businesses in the world,
generating tens of thousands of jobs and transformative changes to our housing, entertainment, and other
sectors. Disclosure of the District’s incentives during the ongoing negotiation process to parties outside of
the direct negotiation would place the District at a competitive disadvantage, especially as this draft
proposal does not represent the District’s best and final offer. Other cities could augment their packages by
passing legislation, implementing regulations, or otherwise making promises that match or exceed those
incentives proposed by the District and its partners. This could result in greater expense for District
taxpayers due to the District needing to include additional incentives to remain competitive.The public
interest in disclosing specific components of the incentive package prematurely is outweighed by the
potential economic injury and value to the District and District residents that Amazon’s HQ2 presents.
Please know that under D.C. Official Code § 2-537 and 1 DCMR § 412 you have the right to appeal this decision
to the Superior Court of the District of Columbia.

Sincerely,

/s Molly Hofsommer

Molly Hofsommer
FOIA Officer
Office of the Deputy Mayor for Planning and Economic Development

CC: Andrew Trueblood; Melissa Tucker